Stephen Williams Varley

Stephen Williams Varley, age 80, passed away peacefully on June 13, 2025 at Canyon Valley Memory Care in Green Valley, Arizona. Steve was born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah, the youngest of three sons born to Franklin Gordon Varley and Elizabeth Ralphene Crane. He was in the first graduating class of the newly opened Skyline High School in 1963. He attended the University of Utah, where he proudly earned both his bachelor's and master’s degrees in social work. Throughout his career, he dedicated himself to serving others—working at the Office of Children with Special Health Care Needs, at the Utah State Hospital, at the Utah State Prison, and the Salt Lake County Substance Abuse program.

 

Steve always had a curious mind and a can-do attitude. If he wanted to do something, he would figure it out, including rewiring his first home on Browning Avenue in Salt Lake City, dragging a spool of electrical wire behind him while consulting a do-it-yourself manual. He became an expert woodworker, building furniture, inlaid boxes and everything in between, including two cedar strip canoes, a cedar strip kayak, and a sailboat. He loved the outdoors, and if he wasn’t in his workshop, he was cycling, hiking, backpacking, snowshoeing, cross country skiing, or camping in southern Utah or the Colorado mountains.

Steve is survived by his wife of 51 years, Sandy, his children Chris (Sharon), Ted (Molly), and Barbra McGraw, and his grandchildren John and David McGraw, and Jackson, Ezra, and Charlotte Varley, and his brother John (Anita). Preceded in death by his parents and his oldest brother, Frank. A private celebration of life is planned for next spring, when the family will scatter his ashes in some of his favorite places in southern Utah.